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Egypt in flames

Chaos reigns in the streets of Cairo as supporters and opponents of the military crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood do battle. (GORAN TOMASEVIC / REUTERS)

Richard Gwyn says the coup in Egypt was illegal but valid. This is like saying somebody’s reasoning is logical but it is baseless; let’s not confuse ourselves because we just want to justify the actions of the military.

By all accounts the military coup in Egypt was well planned and orchestrated. The massive shedding of blood on the streets of Egypt intended to create a state of fear by eradicating the Muslim Brotherhood, but — more importantly — ending the Egyptian people’s revolutionary resolve and reinstating the Mubarak-style military dictatorship.

While the best approach by the U.S. and its allies is still a policy of non-intervention, the West clearly has sufficient leverage over the Egyptian military leadership to influence its decisions and behaviours, especially in dealing with the civilians.

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The bottom line is the killing and imprisonment of Egyptians under any excuse should be condemned.

Ali Orang, Richmond Hill

After declaring the military takeover in Egypt an “illegal coup,” Gwyn took a 180-degree turn and wrote in the next sentence, “Yet valid reasons exist to justify the act. (Mohammed) Morsi once in office filled all the top positions with Islamic extremists.” I wonder how many Liberals are appointed in the top positions by the Harper government in Canada. Can we call his government “inclusive.”

In democracy every winning party has its agenda and, even if 49 per cent of voters do not agree with that agenda, they wait till the next elections. Why this basic principal was ignored when the Brotherhood government was toppled by the military after just one year in office.

I hope Egypt is not going down the road of Algeria where the election process was suspended by the military in ealy 1990s to bloc the FIS, the Islamist party. This resulted in a civil war and more than 100,000 Algerians died in that conflict over 10 years.

Anis Zuberi, Mississauga

All those deploring the actions of Egypt’s military against the supposedly democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood government should be reminded that sometimes democratic elections bring to power a quite undemocratic crowd. One Adolf Hitler had also been democratically elected, but had the German military done then what the Egyptian Army is doing right now, the greatest tragedy of the German history and of the whole world, the World War II, would never have happened.

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Anthony Jares, Mississauga

I was trying to find any news about the destruction of churches and attacks on Christians in Egypt during this recent crisis. The only Christian-related article on your website was an editorial about Trinity Western University. Churches are being destroyed, Coptic Christians being killed and your focus is where? Your anti-Christian bias has hit a disgusting low.

John Pidgeon, Toronto

Before Canada campaigns for democracy in Egypt, it should consider the following: The Muslim Brotherhood is a totalitarian movement whose primary goal is to convert the country to Sharia law. Sharia mandates the second-class status for women and the subjugation of minorities.

Under the Brotherhood’s brief reign, Egypt’s minority Christian Copts experienced murder, forced kidnappings and arson. Since the military coup, Morsi’s followers have taken out their frustrations on the Copts by torching 40 churches.

It should be noted that you can’t have democracy when women, who make up half the population, are denied equal rights. The primary issue confronting Egyptians is that its economy is failing. It has been suggested that the rage on Egypt’s streets relates to the shortage of food, fuel and jobs not to the lack of democracy.

Larry Shapiro, Rancho Mirage, CA

Leader of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Mirza Masroor Ahmad says, “it is the duty of all powers to fulfil the requirements of justice and to unite together.” If the Egyptian government adhered to justice, their country would not be experiencing the violence we witness today. Thousands of lives have been taken in recent years because the governments are not willing to apply the principle of justice.

In the name of democracy, we are seeing protests resulting in mass bloodshed. As an Ahmadi Muslim in Canada, it almost seems as protests grow, the army or the government fight back and more individuals are being killed. I believe if a government is elected in Egypt democratically, they should be given an appropriate chance to try to govern and make amends within the country instead of the country erupting in violence whenever any decision is made by the government.

As Mirza Masroor Ahmad says, “if they wish to emulate democracy, they have to inculcate tolerance.” Until the government and citizens of Egypt truly show tolerance to one another, it is very likely the violence will keep increasing and death toll will rise proportionally.

The forces should adhere to justice when punishing protesters instead of mercilessly killing them. Unfortunately, fear of a massive war from Middle East is becoming a reality by the day which in-turn will disturb the peace of society at large.

Luqman Ahmad, Mississauga

The Star, in recently declaring its support for democracy in Egypt at all cost, seems to have given the Muslim Brotherhood a blanket of approval. Like the editorial board of the Star, I love democracy and even experienced war to help ensure its existence. I have written about it extensively — in academic and popular articles and in an internationally acclaimed book. But I have also fought for human and minority rights in Africa and worked in Canada to help preserve our heritage of freedom and equality.

Against the grain, therefore, let me state the following views on the goings-on in Egypt.

America, perhaps more than any Western nation, is a major player in Egypt. But, immediately, one senses a certain level of hypocrisy in it’s response to the crisis.

Yes, we in the Western world do take steps to quickly clear protest activities and movements when they occur. This is especially the case in America. We frown against prolonged protest and demonstrations that appear to have the possibility of disrupting the established order. Thus, seemingly out-of-hand demonstrations have a short life-span in our society because of intervention by national, state and local government forces. Just ask New York, Chicago and Oakland residents! So, let’s not pretend we are any better than Egypt or anyone else — it’s just a matter of degree. Canada has done much better. Indeed, Canada remains a proud example of democratic practices.

With respect to the United States, one must ask: where is democracy in Republican-controlled areas in America such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida and North Carolina? Republicans, especially of the extreme far-right type, like to talk glibly about democracy abroad and the primacy of the constitution at home, that is the part of the constitution they think they understand and like. In reality, they don’t like democracy, especially when they lose elections, or want to win elections–at whatever cost.

In recent American experience, Republicans resist effort to expand their democratic base through their ideas. They seem to prefer instead to tamper with established democratic processes including voting rights of students, women and minorities. They have used unfair re-districting and gerrymandering to cling on to power in many states and in the US House of Representative even though Democrats won the popular votes.

Clearly, the U.S. does not have the credibility to tell the Egyptian military about democracy or what to do in a political crisis! It might have had in the past. Remember how it cleared Occupy Wall Street protesters by force throughout different American cities, especially New York, Oakland and Chicago? It is easy to pontificate to other people undergoing a crisis. In America, peaceful demonstrations do not really take place without interference by government forces!

And remember the G-8 demonstrations and how different Western governments deal with them. Not so kindly!

Overall, the American official position on happenings in Egypt, as well as pronouncements by certain prominent politicians, especially Senators, are generally hypocritical—even propagandist and patronizing!!!

Any loss in human lives in the current political crisis in Egypt is most regrettable. In fact, these extra-judicial happenings must be condemned in the strictest terms.

As well, we must not gloss over the genesis of precipitating events!

Morsi wanted to impose Islamic fundamentalism on a largely secular Egyptian society. He looked the other way while Christians and other minority groups came under violent intimidation by radical Brotherhood members in Egypt. In the current stand-off between the government and the Muslim Brotherhood, in one day alone, more than 60 churches were vandalized or set on fire, resulting in the destruction of iconic buildings and religious objects, some dating back several centuries. That is the nature of the extremism and bigotry the military, the only stabilizing institution in Egypt, was trying to stem.

President Obama may inadvertently be radicalizing the Moslem Brotherhood — an organization that Al Quada’s Number One man Ayman al-Zawahri also belonged to before he fled Egypt. Now the Brotherhood would begin an internecine internal war in Egypt believing it has the blessing of the United States. It’s leaders will call it a “just war.”

In his Martha’s Vineyard press briefing and first public remark on the crisis in Egypt on August 15, 2013, Obama hipped condemnation on one side — the military — but made only scant mention of how Morsi misinterpreted and mishandled democracy thus triggering the present crisis. That was not democracy.

Democracy does not simply end at the ballot box. What Morsi was trying to impose on the country was not democracy, just a form of democratic dictatorship with a frightfully gleaming hallo of popular franchise. All enlightened democracy must strive to protect all groups in society! Without such a protection, there can be no guaranteed political stability.

Dr. Sam Ifejika, Brampton

Here’s a poem I have written for my country and people — Egypt.

Too much blood has been shed

Too many tears have been cried

Too many mothers have lost their sons

And couldn’t save them even if they had tried

No longer is there peace in people’s hearts

With the willingness of tearing many families apart

The people have spoken they say

With the hope of having harmony one day

But there will never be peace in our land

Unless all the people take a stand

Together and they come united

With no violence being incited

By the very people who have much to gain from this havoc they stir

And their hatred and anarchy bringing a country’s future to a blur

Let’s clear our vision, hearts and minds

And not allow ourselves to become blind

Before our country goes down in flames

With each side pointing a finger to the other, in blame

Now is the time we must show our humanity

Towards each other and in sanctity

We are one people and answer to the same god after all

With only one purpose and only one call

And we must remind ourselves

Together we must stand united or together we will all fall

Asmaa Elkorazati, Maple

Never too late to take the right position, Opinion Aug. 22

Haroon Siddiqui confuses democracy with ballot-box politics. The path to a dictatorship often passes through the ballot box. Hosni Mubarak was elected with 86 per cent of the votes. Hitler was a legally elected in Germany. Morsi was no different.

Even in Canada we suffer from the democratic despot syndrome. The ballot box never guarantees a truly democratic government. Indeed a more fully democratic lifestyle is often found in benevolent monarchies. Democracy is not about votes. It is about humble leadership, and responsible citizens. These are hard to find in Egypt.

Peter Weygang, Bobcaygeon

The Egyptians in Tahrir Square have the right idea. Egypt is poor and institutionally weak precisely because it has been ruled by an oligarchy. A rigid narrow elite who have organized society for their own benefit and pleasure at the expense of the vast mass of people who now are suffering.

Political public policy power has been very narrowly concentrated within a select oligarchy. Furthermore, this power has been used for the sole purpose of creating wealth for those within this narrow oligarchy which includes the many many billions allegedly sequestered by the former president Mubarak.

The losers have been the Egyptian people as they know only too very well. Poverty and weak civic social institutions are concomitant with the resultant eventual breakdown in the civic social fabric promoting civic civil social cohesion essential if a society is to prosper. The way forward being strong civic civil social institution trenching will be long term hard fraught with much tension and civic civil roiling, but the xenophobic alternatives do not bear contemplation.

Monte McMurchy, Toronto

Haroon Siddiqui seems obsessed with the ongoing turmoil in Muslim nations. His sermons are becoming repetitive, like a devout cleric who keeps haranguing about the decadence of modern society. His message is simple: American foreign policy is bad, very bad; violent upheavals in Muslim countries are just the birth pains of democracy and are misunderstood in the West.

Perhaps the Star, for the sake of readership, should reassign this editor emeritus to report on the hilarious shenanigans at City Hall. It might prove a refreshing change.

Garry Burke, Coldwater

Haroon Siddiqui is a learned Islamist scholar and respected columnist. As such it is very intriguing to see him take the “democratic” position in his defence of the Egyptian rebels now being expunged by the popularly supported armed forces.

Bemoaning the rejection by many Western “secularists” of the “repeated electoral victories” of the Islamists, Mr.Siddiqui insists that “we” should be instead on the side of democracy and bring Morsi back.

The problem with this is that Mr. Morsi and his cohorts, having been elected in a climate of thuggery and fraudulent practices (Hitler and Obama come to mind, No?), only used democracy as a cover to grab power.

The Muslim Brotherhood program includes first and foremost the enshrining of Islamic Law everywhere, this being the cause of their rejection by large masses of Egyptian citizens.

Haroon Siddiqui, the Islamic scholar, knows this very well. He is also very familiar with this assessment by www.TheReligionofPeace.com : “Islamic law is absolutely incompatible with democracy. It is a theocratic system with Allah alone at its head. Allah’s law is interpreted by a ruling body of clerics. There is no room for a secular political system in which all people are treated as equals.”

Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) a cleric and widely read author was a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Here is some of what he wrote about democracy: “It is Allah and not man who rules. Allah is the source of all... political authority... Therefore, Allah’s law, not man’s, should govern society.”

Where Mr. Siddiqui is right -at least, I fervently hope so- is when he ascribes to Canadian politicians the sin of “selectively standing on guard for Christians in Egypt.”

He goes as far as labelling Stephen Harper head of the Christian Crusaders !

Now, here is an idea! Time for backlash by “muscular Christianity”. And I am not kidding! Has not Pope Tawadros II officially announced his support for the Egyptian armed forces (who, by the way, have declared their intention of rebuilding the many Christian church buildings torched by Morsi’s men) ?

Charles Lutz, Haliburton

It is obvious Mr. Siddiqui has no love for the Christian church. If Canadian groups were burning mosques, howls of protest would (rightly) be heard from afar. I don’t know of any Canadian political party that would not favour democracy in Egypt but then again Mr. Siddiqui would probably protest Western interference. It is a shame that this writer and most Canadians are not speaking up for persecuted Christians.

The Coptic Orthodox Church has been indigenous in Egypt for almost 2,000 years, so we can’t blame it on anti-Western sentiment.

Doug McLeod, Brampton

Egypt is undergoing a collossal upheaval primarily created by President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood who have had their militias undertake violent activities against the more secular and minority Christians in the past two years.

According to Walid Phares, 38 churches and cathedrals have been destroyed in recent days by the MB. It is ironic to quote a MB spokesman as saying the people in the streets are clamouring for “bread, freedom and social justice” and Haroon Siddiqui saying Canada should be on democracy‘s side.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not democratic and Morsi‘s patronizing of them and taking away rights that previous demonstrators thought they won by toppling Mubarak have helped spur the present warring divide among Egyptians.

Trying to promote inclusion at this point in forming a government seems impossible because of the violence initiated by the MB and the distrust of them by the army and the secularists.

Canada is actually taking a sober attitude to the situation while President Obama has continued to flounder in expecting a dictatorial anti-democratic movement committed to a worldwide caliphate to participate in policies they abhor including inclusive governance.

General Sissi‘s crackdown on the MB has committed the anti-MB forces in a fight to the finish as to who will control Egypt in the near future. Egypt is an important anchor for stability in the Mideast and it is vital to support a quick end to the violence being perpetrated by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood who have abandoned inclusiveness and continue to promote violence in their quest for absolute power.

Norman Gardner, Toronto

Democracy, Mr. Siddiqui, carries rights as well as obligations. President Morsi was elected to institute change mainly in the human rights arena, after the Mubarak dictatorship was overthrown. Morsi was not elected to turn Egypt into an Islamist state governed by Sharia Law.

He was deposed by the military. Since the overthrow of the King of Egypt in the 1950s by a military man, colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt has been run by the military — Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak. History in the last 40 years shows that this prevented the slaughter of the Christian Copts by the Muslim Brotherhood and kept the fragile peace with Israel at the expense of human rights for all.

Mr. Morsi’s democratically elected government was either incapable of preventing attacks on the Christians or silently encouraged it in accordance with Sharia Law. It may be that Egypt is not yet ready for democracy if those democratically elected have no respect for minorities in Egypt.

Hitler, Mr Siddiqui, was also democratically elected by the people of Germany in 1933. But I suppose that is of no relevance today or is it?

Robert Yufe, Toronto

The Star should be commended for reporting on the increasing use of violence by Islamists in Egypt. Missing from Saturday’s edition is mention of the call by Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird and U.S. President Barack Obama to protect religious minorities, particularly Egypt’s dwindling Christian community.

Interestingly, the Canadian Bene Israel community recently celebrated the Bat Mitzvah of Judith Joseph whose Parasha reading included Deuteronomy 22:25-26. Our thoughts and prayers are extended to minorities impacted by the uncivil unrest in Egypt. Our community prays the Star and other media take up Minister Baird’s and President Obama’s call to focus on the violence being wrought against religious minorities in Egypt and in other predominantly Muslim countries.

Levi M. Sankar, Thornhill

These last few days showed that the Egyptian army was right to chase the Muslim Brotherhood out of power. One can only regret the acts of violence.

If the Egyptian army is the cause of the present situation by a direct military action, the Muslim Brotherhood create violence for political purposes. In Egypt, the road to the respect for human rights is long and difficult.

In one year, the Muslim Brotherhood set up the bases of a totalitarian regime, assaulted numerous minorities as the Copts and destroyed several churches. These actions were however nothing in front of what they do now.

One could say that the true face of the Muslim Brotherhood is revealing at present. These people who try to create the most possible Egyptian martyrs provoke a good part of the army violence. It is a winning situation for them. If fights turn in their favour, they return to power. If they are losing, they can then accuse the army for committing atrocities and appeal to international help. It is what occurs at present.

To send innocents to be massacred to attract worldwide sympathy is a tactics use since a long time in the Middle East. It is surprising to see that some States are still biting to this fishhook. Before taking side, countries should consider who of the two belligerent respects most human rights. If the past guarantees the future, the army must be supported. It voluntarily gives up power in front of popular demonstrations in 2011. For their part, in one year, the Muslim Brotherhood diminished human rights in their country and sharply attacked equality between man and woman, pleading cultural and religious motives. These rights are universal and measure the quality of all the governments of the planet. Peace should not be made at their expense.

Michel Gourd, L’Ascension de Patapédia, Que.

At the very moment Haroon Siddiqui calls on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his “Christian crusaders” to campaign for “democracy” in Egypt (which amounts to a call for Stephen Harper to help restore the Muslim Brotherhood to power), Islamists are torching Christian churches in Egypt and persecuting and killing Christians.

I don’t know what’s more disturbing: Siddiqui’s gross mischaracterization of the prime minister, or the airy dismissal of the suffering of Egypt’s Christian minority as “Copts being targeted by some groups.”

“Christian crusaders”? Given what’s occurring in Egypt right now, using that expression is the equivalent of a very sick joke.

M.G. Alter, Toronto

I applaud Haroon Siddiqui for calling spade a spade without mincing words and writing with courage, moral clarity and candour.

The Egyptian military regime sees the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to its control over the Egyptian government, its bureaucratic apparatus, institutions and the corrupt to the core moneyed allies who saw in Morsi a threat to their longstanding political dominance.

The continued killing of civilians by the murderous Egyptian military with President Obama watching as a bystander issuing mere strongly worded statements without any sting of the suspension of U.S. aid, lead us to believe that the United States was either behind the coup or endorsed the military coup d’état.

The fact that the U.S. would not admit that it is a coup d’état under whatever perverted logic that they are utilizing, indicates that they do not support the Arab Spring — the will of the people of Egypt, because it runs counter to their vested interests.

The Egyptian military in essence serves as a conduit for U.S. foreign policy not only in Egypt but also throughout North Africa and indeed the entire region of the Middle East.

The U.S. has failed to live up to its own democratic values by allowing an elected leader to be deposed through a military coupe.

Javed Akbar, Ajax

In the past couple of years we have witnessed a few countries in the Middle East that have undergone major changes in their governments. They all started with cries for democracy and freedom. Of the countries that have gone through these changes have we seen a single one emerge as a democracy? Does this not tell us something? Who is behind these revolts and what is their real agenda?

Egypt is now in the throes of civil war. When the unrest started Christians and Muslims fought hand in hand in a naive and ardent hope for a change for the better. What did Morsi deliver? Did he really think that 80 per cent of Egyptians would meekly submit to his devious machinations to institute an Islamist regime?

He and his cohorts are in large part answerable for the present chaos. How dare they blame the Christians for inciting the violence! This is the typical excuse to destroy other religions and their sacred places that we have seen time and time again all over the Muslim world. Yet we do not seem to get it. When will we ever learn? It seems to me that the West can never fathom the convoluted thinking of the Eastern Mind.

It is high time that the Brotherhood and all fanatical regimes everywhere recognize the fact that the world is changing; people, muslim or not, are changing-especially the women. Until governments realize that human beings cannot be forcibly controlled indefinitely, even under the guise of religious edicts, there will be no peace in these countries. Tyranny never breeds loyalty.

Pushpa Shiri, Toronto

What is happening in Egypt is a natural and expected result of electing an Islamist militia and bringing them to power. Little did we know that any Islamist government elected or not has brought peace democracy and economic prosperity to its people.

The vast majority of the Egyptian people took to the street on June 30 demanding the ouster of an oppressive Islamist regime called Muslim Brotherhood. This militia’s ideologies stem from the desire to establish an oppressive Islamic regime similar to the ones in Iran, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

Last couple of months Egypt and the whole world witnessed the killing of innocent children and throwing them out from buildings in the city of Alexandria northern Egypt by Islamist groups and the continued killing of Christians and their churches. Every citizen has the right to demonstrate peacefully and express their opinion.

However international media reporters confirmed that Muslim Brotherhood protesters were armed, as a result it is the army’s and police’s duty to protect the Egyptian people and maintain peace and order on streets.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not a peaceful group, their founding fathers founded their movement based on nobility of jihad and that martyrdom is the ultimate pursuit that every and each Muslim should pursue. Their slogan is Jihad Is the Way.

It is no secret that Hamas is a Muslim brotherhood organization despite the fact that they are “democratically elected” they are listed as a terrorist group. Egyptians deserve true democracy. The free world needs to stand behind the vast majority of the Egyptian people and the army in their struggle against Hamas of Egypt.

Soha Elsayed. Kitchener

The crackdown in Egypt teaches us what, exactly? Aug. 16

Rick Salutin displays an appalling narcissism in warning it would be “smug” and “reflexive” for anyone to conclude that the killings in Egypt prove he was wrong to support the military coup there. His topic choice suggests that, to him, the burning question is now whether he should have to endure the “I told you so’s of others.”

Despite all the deaths, Salutin doubles down on his discredited thesis that military coups against duly elected governments can too be a good and democratic thing. By piling red herring upon non sequitur he attempts to show how really clever, nuanced thinkers should continue to think of the desirability of military coups as an open question.

Rather than making his cleverness the issue, Mr. Salutin might have used his column to offer an abject and unequivocal apology for contributing to the white washing of the coup. And he might have focused on what really matters now — how to get the soldiers in Egypt to stop killing people.

Alan Wain, Milton

Is there an axis of evil in Washington that rejects traditional Western values? Why is the Muslim Brotherhood guiding Obama and the Clintons in determining U.S. foreign policy?

Arif Alikhan, Mohammed Elibiary, Rashad Hussain, Salam al-Marayati, Imam Mohamed Magid, Eboo Patel, Huma Abedin and John Brennan hold senior positions in the administration. All are closely associated with the Brotherhood and are the only Muslim opinions heard in the White House.

From helping overthrow secular regimes in Libya and Egypt and replacing them with radical Brotherhood/Al Qaeda Islamists, America have lost any respect or influence it used to have in the Middle East. An American ambassador raped and murdered in Libya and Christians being slaughtered and their churches burned in Egypt are the legacies of the U.S. siding with the Sunni terrorist Muslim Brotherhood.

From cleansing FBI and CIA training manuals of references to radical Islam, to supporting UN resolutions making criticism of Islam a crime, to forcing Israel to release Palestinian terrorists, to pushing for Morsi’s return in Egypt, this bumbling administration is proving that bullying its friends and pandering to the Brotherhood is their agenda.

It is little wonder the U.S. is neither feared nor admired any more. It’s time to cut ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. They have destroyed America’s credibility.

Len Bennett, Montreal

As an example of what he describes as a “hierarchy to the value of life,” Haroon Siddiqui writes, “An Israeli life is deemed infinitely more valuable than that of a Palestinian.” Since he clearly refers to the Israeli Jews in Israel, I changed the word “Israeli” for “Jew.” Setting aside the echoes of centuries of disparagements elicited by such a sentence, I did something very modern, I googled it.

Underneath a few sites, I found this title: “Results for similar searches” and the first one below it contains Mr. Siddiqui’s article. Following it was a site that I have never seen in my Internet experience called Offensive Search Results in which the Google Team apologizes for “results that were very disturbing. We assure you that the views expressed by the sites in your results are not in any way endorsed by Google.”

Obviously, for other readers there won’t be any similar disclaimers.

Jaime Oksemberg, Toronto

If this is the way the Muslim Brotherhood acts, I’d hate to see their evil stepsisters.

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